I had three old posts from this day Sept. 22nd from past years. I am only re-blogging one of them. I like the pictures in this one from 2023. Also, I shopped for slippers today in anticipation of colder weather.
On This Day in 1982
Today in history the first emoticon was proposed and used at Carnegie Mellon. See the link here: The smiley is no joke.
#Throwback Thursday
The title of my old post that I am re-blogging today explains that the post was simply an imaginative idea put onto paper. Reading it today makes me wonder what exactly did I mean by the words “missing details”? Perhaps it was meant to be mysterious and left for the reader to decide the meaning. It is an imaginative play on words based on no real facts. It was published on September 17, 2022.
Street Sign Correction
This re-blogged post is from September 15, 2024. Today I decided to repost it with an image generated image of how I think the street sign should be written. Below you will see a picture of the real-life sign.)
“Guess What Day It Is?”
Sunday Reflection: Faith and Science
If you want to read more about James Clerk Maxwell’s faith, you can read about it here.
Today I have been reading about men and women of science who had a strong faith in God. I discovered this great website, The Vatican Observatory Foundation. I saw on their website information about Mary Anning, a fossil hunter. This reminded me that many years ago I read a book about her. She had a very interesting life, and is credited with discovering many large fossils along the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast in Lyme Regis, England.
She also had a strong faith in God. “Like many contemporary clergy-naturalists, Anning viewed the ancient, extinct creatures she unearthed not as a challenge to God, but as a revelation of a deeper, grander creation. ” This is a quote from the Vatican Observatory.
I mention these two scientists today because I have previously read about both of them. I have been thinking about Maxwell, and I have recently read about his contributions to the discovery of color photography, and of course this was of interest to me. I already knew about his discovery of electromagnetism. I added information about Mary Anning because I was reminded today that I had read a book about her life, and her discoveries. She is largely unknown even though her contributions to paleontology are huge! Both scientists saw no conflict between their faith in God and their study of science.
I write this as an encouragement to students of faith and science. Let nothing deter you or discourage you from your pursuits. Harmony can exist between the two.
Happy 11th Anniversary!
“Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 11 years ago.
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.”
It is hard to believe that it has been 11 years. I started blogging for self-therapy. Now, I blog because it entertains me while tending to my responsibilities. Visiting a virtual world can break the monotony of my real world. (Thank you to WordPress.)
I will not make any predictions about this blog’s future other than I have paid for the year ahead.
Can Virus Vectors Change Our DNA?
In this re-blog titled Lingering Thoughts…, I mentioned the fact that I had read a book of fiction which told a story of virus vectors that attack DNA and can change a person’s mental stability. Since the original post had no picture I had the image generator create an image using the prompt : virus vectors attacking the DNA of a human and making them crazy. I had to add some further instructions to make the image more like I wanted it to appear. After a couple attempts it produced an image which I thought was a better depiction of my thoughts.
I have no idea whether viruses can really do this. I do know that viruses can affect us in many ways. I have read that scientists can study DNA and determine what viruses the human has or had been exposed to. I have no way of determining the veracity of this. It is interesting to think about.
As for my mental stability today, I think I am as sane as one can be. Occasionally I do have weird thoughts, however, my experience has been that most people have strange thoughts now and then. The problem arises when people act upon these strange thoughts, and think they are something that no one else perceives. The human mind is a fertile field.
Flashback Friday – 2019/06/28
Today is Friday Sept. 4th and I am off work to celebrate the Labor Day holiday. I am cleaning house here on my website where this post resides. I found this old post which I think is timeless, so I am reposting it. Fortune-Teller
I decided to delete the picture that I used when I originally posted it. The image you see above was generated using an image generator here at WordPress. I like the idea of seeing the past, present, and future through a portal such as the fortune teller’s crystal ball.
Snollygoster is a Fun Word to Learn
: a shrewd, unprincipled person
“Truman lamented that Dwight Eisenhower had given in to congressional “snollygosters“—unprincipled politicians.—Orme Wilson”
This is a quote I found on the Merriam Webster Dictionary website. I was going to talk about the word “gumption” which is today’s word of the day. I was sidetracked when I saw that snollygoster is the current top word look-up at this website. I did not know what it meant, so I looked it up. I found the above quote. I tried to look up Orme Wilson since I did not recognize this name. I found that there was more than one Orme Wilson, so I searched who was the Orme Wilson that used the word “snollygoster” to describe politicians. I found this:
“President Harry S. Truman. Truman lamented in his personal correspondence and speeches that Dwight D. Eisenhower had surrendered to congressional “snollygosters”—which he defined as unprincipled, shrewd politicians who care more about getting into office than about party, platform, or principles. Because Orme Wilson Jr. was a prominent diplomat during the Truman era, his papers, letters, or related historical records are cited by lexicographers as the source material verifying Truman’s use of the word.” I found this quote from Wikipedia.
According to Merriam Webster, the word can be traced back to the word “snallygaster” which was a mythical creature. Etymology– “probably alteration of snallygaster a mythical creature that preys on poultry and children.”
In case you are more interested in the word “gumption”, here is the link: Definition of gumption.
